Sheet-feeding mechanism



'April 3, 1928. 1,664,929

W. M. KELLY SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM Filed Aprii 15. 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 1 W. M. KELLY SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM Filed April 15. 1927 April 3, 1928.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 3, 1928.

WILLIAM ice Lit, or wssiemm, NEW JERSEY.

seem-FEEDING mesa-men.

Application filed April 15,1527. Serial no. 184,121.

The present invention relates to sheet feeding mechanism for printing presses and the like, and particularly to the mechanism for retarding the sheets preparatory to their being taken by the grippers on the impression cylinder.

The object of this invention is to improve the mechanism sh wa in copending application, Serial No. 6705599, filed October 24, 1923, and particularly 'to improve the means for mounting and adjusting the slow down sagas, in order to render the adjustment of these fingers, more easily and quickly performed; In the disclosure of my oopendnag application the slow down fingers are mounted for straight line reciprocation in brackets secured to a cross bar extending over the forward end of the feed board, and in order to adjust the fingers vertically 2 it is first necessary to unclamp the brackets by manipulating one screw and then adjust the brackets vertically on the cross bar by inanipul atinp another screw and finally clamp the brackets by manipulating the first screw. In the construction of the present invention, the fingers are reciprocably mounted in slides vertically adjustable in ways, formed in the brackets and a single screw is provided to adjust the slides and the fingers" carried thereby, so that it is only necessary to perform one operation in order to adjiistthe' slow down fingers, and hence these fingers can be adjusted in the present con's'triietion very quickly and easily during the operation ofthe press.

Referring'to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1" is a plan viewof a sheet feeder and detainer mechanism;

Figure 2 is a' longitudinal vertical section; v v

Figure 3 is a plan view of the sheet slow down and detainei mechanism;

Figure 4 is a sectional'view taken substantially on the line 4''et of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a' sectional view taken on the" 1ine5+5 of Figure 8;

Figure 6 is a semen on the line 6'-'6 of Figure 7' is a section on the line 7-7 of Figure 1. j

7 Referring to the drawings: 1 designates thefram'e of any suitable automatic sheet feed-in;v machine adapted to feed sheets singly from a pile 2, to and between; set at top and bottom conveyor tapes, by which the sheets conveyed ever the feed boards to the impression cylinder 4t. The top conveyor tapes and sheet retarding devices are mounted in a frame which consists of side bars 5 and cross bars (5 and ,7. The side bars, 5 at the feeder end of the frame are rigidly secured to bracketsS which are rotatable on. a shaft 9 journaled in thefranie of the feeding machine whereby said. pivoted frame may be raised from the feed board. Likewise the feed board is mounted for raising movement, being mounted on pivots 8 supported by the machine frame. The sheets are conveyed from the feeding machine between the lower reaches of a pair, of top tapes 11 and the upper reaches of a pair of bottom tapes 12.. The top tapes pass over driving pulleys 13 fast on a shaft 1 1- and over idler pulleys 15; journaled in upstanding arms 1'5 which are ad jus'tably fixed on a rod 16 by means of set screws 17', and from, pulleys 15the tapes pass over adjusting pulleys 18 and 19 journaled in brackets .20.,3vhich, are slidably mounted .on longitudinal rods 21 suitably supported bythe conveyor frame and which are adapted to be held in adjusted positions on these rods by means ,of setscrews 22 or the like. Thus the lengths of those portions of the lower reaches of the top tapes, which 3 cooperate with the upperreaches of the bottom tapes may be adjusted thru a wide range to suit sheets of different lengths.

The top tape pulley shaft 14 is driven from. shaft 9 by means of a large gear 24:

faston shaft 9 and a relatively small gear 25 fast on shaft 14. Shaft 14' is journaled in the free ends of a pair of arms 26 which are fixed on a shaft 27 rotatable in brackets 28 screwed or otherwise fastened to cross rod 6. Gear 25 is urged in yielding engagement with gear 24 by suitable spring means, not shown herein. The bottom tapes 12 pass over pulleys 31. which. are keyed/on a transverse shaft 32 journ'ale'din frame 1 and rotatable by suitable gearing; not shown, at such velocity asto drive the bottom tapes at substantially the speed of the top tapes. From pulleys 31 the bottom tapes pass over feed board 3 and over idler pulleys 33 jourhaled in the outer end of said board; and

thence pass over adjustable idlers 34E mounted beneath the reed board.

The sheet slow dott n'and detainer devices proper are mounted on apair of similar brackets 85, which are adjustable on cross bar 7, Referring more particularly to Figs.

3, 4 and 5, bracket 35 is slidable on bar 7 and is adapted to be fixed thereon by a thumb screw 36, shown only in Figures 3 and 4, as it is out of view in Figure 5. The bracket has integrally formed therewith a barrel 37 in the bore of which is reciprocably mounted a stem 38 formed at its lower end with a bifurcated head 39 in which is mounted a roller 40. Stem 38 is held normallyin an upper position, with head 39 abutting an annular rib41, by means of a coil spring 42 which is compressed between rib 41 and the end of a sleeve 43 secured to stem 38 by a pin44. Pin 44 projects on both sides of the sleeve and its projecting ends work in slots 45 in the upper end of barrel 37, whereby the stem is prevented from turning in the barrel. Roller 40, which constitutes a sheet detainer, is periodically depressed .in the operation of the machine by means of the following elements. Journaled in side bars 5 is a transverse shaft 46 which has secured thereto an upstanding arm 47 connected by a link 48 to the lower end of an arm 49. Arm 49 is rotatablymounted on a shaft 50 which is journaled in brackets 8, and this arm carries a roller which engages cam 51 fast on shaft 9. Adjustably mounted 011 shaft 46 is a pair of brackets 52, to the upper faces of which are secured operating fingers 53 formed of spring steel. These fingers project over and engage the stems of the sheet detainers and operate to depress the detainers against the tension of springs 42 when shaft 46 is oscillated. j

Each of the brackets 35 has its front face recessed to form a vertical guideway for a slide 54 which carries the slow down finger 55. Slide 54 is integral at its lower end with a forwardly projecting portion 56, and the slow down finger is slidably mounted in a track recessed in the lower face of the slide and its forwardly projecting portion, the

- also adapted to project-thru notches formed in the front cylinder stops 61. Vertical adjustment of the top guides 58 is obtained by means of a threaded pin-62 fixed to the forwardly projecting portion 56 of the slide and passing thru a hole in the guide and a milled nut 63 on pin 62 adapted to engage the top of the guide the forwardly projecting portion 56 immediately thereunder being cut away-to permit this adjustment. Cooperating with each of the top guides is a newness curved guide finger 64 (Fig. 2) which is mounted on a cross bar 65 secured beneath the feed board. These guide fingers extend up over the impression cylinder just clear of the beveled forward end of the extension board 66 and project between the bifurcations 60 of the top guides, forming therewith sheet receiving throats. Screwed or otherwise fastened to the upper end of slide 54 is a plate 67 having a hole adjacent its rear end thru which passes an adjusting screw 68 mounted in a threaded hole in bracket 35. Screw 68 is formed with an abutment or collar 69 held engaged with plate 67 by a coil spring 70 which surrounds screw 68 and is compressed between plate 67 andbracket 35. By operatingscrew 68, slide 54, with the slow down finger: 55 and top guide 58 carried thereby, may be adjusted vertically. This construction provides an extremely simple adjustment for these parts. In. the construction shown in my copen'ding application, referred to above, the slow down finger is carried by an integral part of the bracket corresponding to bracket 35 herein, and in order to adjust the finger 1t 1s necessary to unclamp the bracket by one screw, then adjust the bracket vertically by another screw and finally reclamp the bracket. In the present case the adjustment is effected by the single screw 68, and can be made very easily and quickly during the operation of the press.

The slow down fingers are operated by the following connections: Pivoted to the rear ion end of each finger is a link 71 which is pivoted at its other end to an arm 72 (Fig. 6) fast on shaft 50, but adapted to be held in ad justed positions thereon by thumb screw 7 3. Shaft 50 is oscillated by engagement of an arm 7 4 with a cam 75 on shaft 9, the upper end of said arm carrying a roller held in engagement with the cam by a coil spring:76

secured at one end to a depending arm 77 on shaft 50 and at its other end to a pin projecting inwardly from side bar 5.

7 Each link 71 has adjustably mounted thereon a bracket'78 which carries a brush holder 79 caies llU

pable of longitudinal adjustment and mounting a goats hair brush 80. j

In the operation of the machine, the sheets are fed by the auton'iatic feeder between the top and bottom conveyor tapes 11 and 12 and are conveyed thereby at highvelocity to the slow down fingers. The operating mechanisms are sotirned that when the for- 'ward edge of the sheet is about to engage the shoulders 55 of the'slowi down fingers l the roller on arm 74 is on the point of 1noving over the inclined portion a: of cam 75,

which is rotating in a counter-clockwise direction (looking at- Fig. 6), and the roller operating fingers 53 are raised, permitting detainer rolls 40 to be held up by springs 42.

The roller on arm 74 now travels down the inclined portion of cam 75 indicated at m (Fig. 6), and consequently the slow down fingers are caused to travel in the same direction as the sheet being fed, but at less velocity, so that the sheet is slowed down gradually, the slow down fingers coming to rest when the roller on arm 74 travels on. theportion 2 of the cam. The roller on arm 74 then travels down the inclined nortion a of cam 7 5 which causes the slow down fingers to again move forwardly, and during this movement the sheet comes in contact with the front stops 61 and is side registered. Thereafter the front stops are raised and the sheet deta-iner rollers 40 are operated to engage the sheet and hold it while the grippers on the impression cylinder withdraw the sheet from the feed board;

The adjustable pulleys 18, 19 are positioned so that the sheet will not be forced forwardly by the tapes after it has engaged the slow down fingers. In other words, the portions of the tapes 11 adjacent the tapes 12 are adjusted, by movement of pulleys 18, 19 to such lengths that the sheet will be properly advanced to the slow down fingers.

The brushes carried by the links 71 are adapted to engage the rear marginal portions of the sheets and positively push the front edges thereof into engagement with the front stops 61. It will be understood when the forward edge of the sheet engages the shoulders 55 of the slow down fingers, it is in the throats formed between the top guides 60 and the bottom guides 64, so that it cannot jump by said shoulders.

After the sheet has been taken by the grippers of the impression cylinder, the slow down fingers are returned to initial position by the inclined port-ion s of cam 75 operating on the roller carried by arm 74:.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, a cross bar mounted over the forward end of the feed board, brackets laterally adjustable on said cross bar, slides mounted in said brackets for vertical adjustment, and slow down fingers longitudinally reciprocable in ways formed in the lower portion of said slide.

2. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, a bracket mounted over the forward end of the feed board, a slide mounted in said bracket for vertical adjustment, and a slow down finger longitudinally reciprocable in ways formed in the lower portion of said slide.

3. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, a

bracket mounted over the forward end of the feed board formed with substantially vertical ways, a slide mounted in said ways formed with a groove in its lower face substantially at ri ht angles to said ways, a screw engaging said bracket and said slide for' adjusting the latter, and a slow down finger reciprocable in said groove.

at. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, a bracket mounted over the forward end of the feed board formed with substantially vertical ways, a slide mounted in said ways formed with a groove in its lower face substantially at right angles to said. ways, a screw mounted in said bracket and having an abutment engaging said slide, a spring holding said slide engaged with said abutment, and a slow down finger reciprocable in said groove.

5. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, a bracket mounted over the forward end of the feed board, a member carried by said bracket for vertical adjustment, a screw mounted in said bracket and having an abutment engaging said member, a spring holding said member engaged with said abutment, and a slow down finger mounted in said member for longitudinal reciprocation.

6. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, a bracket mounted over the forward end of the feed board having a substantially vertical groove formed in its front face, a slide mounted in said groove, a rearwardly extending plate secured to the top of said slide formed with an aperture, a milled headed screw extending thru said aperture having a shoulder engaging the upper face of said plate and screwed in said bracket, a coiled spring surrounding said screw and ..compressed between said bracket and plate, and a slow down finger longitudinally reciprocable in ways formed in the bottom face of said slide.

7. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, laterally spaced brackets mounted over the forward end of the feed board, slides mounted in substantially vertical ways formed in said brackets, screws for adjusting said slides, slow down fingers longitudinally reciprocable in said slides, sheet detaining rollers 5 bracket mounted over the forward end of the feed board formed with substantially vertical ways, a slide mounted in said ways formed with a groove in its lower face substantially at right angles to said Ways, a

10 screw engaging said bracket and said slide for adjusting the latter, a slow down finger reciprocable in said groove, and a sheet detainer device mounted for up and down reciprocation in said bracket.

10. Sheet retarding mechanism for printing presses comprising, in combination, a bracket mounted over the forward end of the feed board, a slow down finger mounted on said bracket for longitudinal reciprocation and means for adjusting said finger vertically with respect to said bracket.

In testimony whereof I signature.

\VILLIAM M. KELLY.

hereunto aifix my 

